My Leaf-Raking Apprentice

Toby has been a fun addition to my leaf raking responsibilities this year. In a year or two I'll hand the whole job over to him. I'll tell him that he started raking leaves at the tender age of 4 months. He was around for moral support than actual labor back then, but over the years he's gotten more helpful. Now he's interested in raking the leaves into bigger and bigger piles so he can jump into them. I keep telling him that a half an acre of leaves makes a big pile, but he's just focused on his one pile that he rakes, jumps into, scatters, and re-rakes. Meanwhile I move on to other piles until my arms want to fall off. And I haven't even gotten around to where most of the leaves are yet. Here's to an exciting weekend of bagging leaves. And a random blurb on leaf raking in general:

Here's one blogger's opinion on leaf raking:
"Simply put, there is no reason to rake leaves unless you are collecting them to use in a compost pile or as a mulch underneath trees and shrubs or around perennials. This should be heralded as great news because it saves you an unbelievable amount of work. No more raking means no more blisters, sprained backs, wet knees from bagging and wasted hours of shear boredom when you could be doing fun things." (Jeff Lowenfels from the Anchorage Daily News--just from a random hyperlink I followed earlier)
He goes on to state that what you should do with leaves (and what I'll expect Toby and BJ to do next year) is run over them with the lawn mower and turn them into mulch. Great idea, except that now all the leaves have fallen and we have to get a new belt for the lawn mower, so I'm stuck with this task for at least another year. But I think the truth of the matter is that people still rake leaves on their own (instead of mulching them with the mower or hiring someone to do it) in order to have something to complain about (or something to add to the list of things to complain about). It's also a conversation starter, although a rather weak one, of course, because it doesn't go anywhere other than "Yeah, raking leaves sucks."

So here's to old-fashioned whining and more fun times with Toby tomorrow in the yard. We'll rake leaves, jump in piles, and hope that it doesn't rain before we can finish.

My Long Days

The days when Toby skips his nap are the longest. Not only because I don't get the quiet time I need but also because he's grumpy and tired the next day, too. On Sunday we went to a birthday party for a six-year-old. It was for the older brother of Toby's little friend that we met at the library. The mom, Belinda, told me that she invited his whole kindergarten class and only two kids were coming. So we went to give the kid some guests for his birthday party. We pull into the driveway and realize this woman went all out--and her kid was only turning 6. There was a (heated) tent with a cotton candy machine and a popcorn machine, a pirate theme with a pirate ship cake and treasure boxes for all the kids, and a bounce house! Toby was in playland heaven. I ended up freezing because it was all outside and I didn't bring a jacket. (side note: it's taking me a while to learn that, unlike Colorado, when it's sunny here it's not necessarily warm) I went expecting to see maybe three kids and a quiet little birthday party. Instead I spent and hour and a half dreading the day that I have to reciprocate on the invitation for this family to come to our house for a party. But I'm glad Toby had fun.
On Monday Toby went to his gym class instead of taking a nap, which just equalled a disastrous breakdown until Daddy came home and took him to see his first big movie: Madagascar 2, which he loved. He came home dancing and went to bed like an angel.
So here we are after two days without naps. You can bet he's going to get one today! We might stay in our PJ's for most of the day. Toby ends up making a fort of some kind with the laundry basket to watch his favorite PBS shows. Here's a picture (he looks pretty tired):

My Kids in Stages

Here's a picture of Toby, just one week shy of 8 months, when he pulled himself up to stand using a toy that BJ's grandmother bought for him. And a picture of Norah, 10 days before she turns 9 months, doing the same thing with the same toy. It's funny to me that they are doing the same things but almost a month apart. And how Toby was going through these stages at the Chaplin house and Norah is also experiencing these things here in CT.

My Anonymity

Being out here in a new place has continually reinforced my feeling of anonymity. For example, I applied a few weeks ago for a part time position as a substitute librarian at the local library. I didn't get the job (I didn't even get to the interview phase--ouch). Now I'm about to pack up my kids and take them to that same library for toddler story time. No one knows who I am, so no one will be at the library saying "Sorry we didn't like you or offer you a job here."
There are times when I really enjoy my anonymous status. Like today. But there are many more times when I just wish I would run into someone I know and love at the library (or the grocery store or church for crying out loud!) so I could get a hug.
**On a side note with the job: I think I was more attracted to the $17-per-hour salary and the possibility of a 5-hour-per-week job than I was with actually getting a job. So the job hunt has resumed for now.

My Puddle Magnet

Toby's favorite thing to do is play in the puddle in our driveway. I love watching him play, but without fail he gets soaked every time. He's a boy, of course, so it's only a matter of time before he jumps in the puddle with both feet. Sometimes he's content to drag sticks in the mud or throw stones into it. This time he tried driving his lawn mower into it. He runs laps around it, depending on how big it is. But then he just decides, well, it's time! And in he goes.

My Fourth Halloween that Matters

This Halloween Toby was Thomas the Tank Engine and Norah was a Love Bug, but she fell asleep in her stroller while trick or treating and so she just looked like a fluffy pile of felt. I know Toby had a lot of fun going around the neighborhood at his Oma and Opa's house--he even braved a haunted garage! We had to do a practice run in order to remember how to go Trick or Treating.

My vote counted...if it got there in time.

We returned from a great weekend in Baltimore to see our ballots at the bottom of the mail pile. So if we had waited until the mail came on Thursday then we could have voted and not spent $36 to overnight our ballots to Colorado Springs. But we really had a relaxing and fun time with BJ's parents and I'm glad we didn't delay our trip.
I'm very thankful that we had the opportunity to cast our ballots, and it wasn't until I was faced with the possibility of NOT voting that I realized why it's important to me. The whole weekend in Baltimore there was one news program or another on in the evening and they were all talking about pollsters and all the "yadda-yadda-yadda" stuff that went along with the elections. As I was trying to engage in discussions about these news programs my opinions seemed empty. Without the vote to back up my voice my opinion means little. Democracy is an interesting thing and I shudder to think about living in another time or another country without the right to vote.